Helen Clark, Sam Neill and the anti-plastic tidal wave

Helen Clark, Dr Jane Goodall and actor Sam Neill
are among the growing list asking the New Zealand Government
for a total ban on single-use plastic bags.

This Tuesday
27th Feb at midday, the Jane Goodall Institute New Zealand
and Greenpeace will be presenting a letter to the Minister
of Conservation, Eugenie Sage, in front of the Parliament
buildings, asking the New Zealand government for a
regulatory ban on single-use plastic bags.

The letter is
signed by former Prime Minister, Right Honourable Helen
Clark, in her new position as Patron of JGINZ, and supported
by companies, councils, non-governmental and community
organisations, including Countdown, Bunnings, the Mayor of
Wellington, SPCA, Forest and Bird, World Wildlife Fund, all
supporting the government to Ban The Bag.

Helen Clark
says, "the banning of single-use plastic bags from stores,
communities, and the environment would be a big step in the
right direction towards achieving the targets of sustainable
development goals, a step where we are well behind many
other countries which are enacting legislation".

"I hope
that the New Zealand Government, supported by corporations,
community-based organisations and many New Zealanders, will
ban the bag."

Accompanying the letter
is a petition signed by 65,000 New Zealanders calling on the
Government to ban single-use plastic bags, showing the
increasing concern about the plague of plastic in our oceans
and environments, and the impact it is having.

Sam Neill,
star of Jurassic Park and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, has got
together with Greenpeace and made a tongue in cheek film in
praise of "the humble plastic bag". The video has been
viewed more than 700,000.

New Zealand currently ranks
among the worst in the world for creating urban waste and
has fallen behind many countries in instituting a ban on
single-use plastic bags.

Greenpeace Campaigner, Elena Di
Palma, says New Zealand’s plastic waste problem is quickly
spiralling out of control. Kiwis use around 1.6 billion bags
per year which are used for an average of only 12 minutes,
yet each one can take up to 1,000 years to degrade. They are
choking our oceans and marine life."The aim is to ban all
single-use plastic bags - we really need to get single use
plastic out of our lives," Di Palma says. "Plastic bottles,
straws, plastic cutlery, all have a terrible impact on our
environment and are deadly to the creatures we share the
seas with."

Jane Goodall Institute New Zealand CEO &
Co-Founder Dr Melanie Vivian says "There is an urgent need
for all to take responsibility for the impacts we are having
on our planet and its inhabitants. The consequences of our
conveniences are now starkly obvious. To turn the impacts
around behaviour change will need to come from us all,
governments, businesses, communities and individuals. What
we are seeing on the issue of single-use plastic bags that
is so heartening is that so many are saying they are
committed to making that change. As such we are ready to
support the government to make legislative change to ban the
bag. Hopefully the first step in many that we can take
together to make positive differences for all".

The Jane
Goodall Institute New Zealand, Greenpeace and other
organisations are asking, and supporting, the Government to
take decisive action.

Petition Delivery starts at 12pm at
Parliament Steps on Tuesday the 27th of February.

Facts
about single use plastic in New Zealand

87% of New
Zealanders agree that we have too much plastics in our
lives. Our petition has now gathered over 65,000 signatures
calling for a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags,
showing widespread support from the public for legislation
on this issue.

Scientists estimate that around 8 million
tonnes of plastic waste is ending up in the oceans each
year.New Zealanders use 1.6 billion plastic bags per year,
yet on average each bag is only used for just 12 minutes
before it is thrown out.

New Zealand’s turtles are
mistaking plastic bags floating in our oceans for jellyfish.
A staggering 1 in 3 turtles found dead on New Zealand’s
beaches have swallowed
plastic.

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